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Seawheeze Half Marathon Training

Hi everyone! It's training plan day! I'm so excited to be training for a race again, and I'm going to be tell you all about it today. I'm going to be running the Seawheeze Half Marathon in Vancouver, and I'm so excited! This is definitely one of those bucket list races that I will probably only do once in my life, so I'm hoping to make the most of it.

Today I'm going to be going into all of my plans and goals for this race. Settle in, because this is going to be a long one!

Training Plan

Once again, I'll be using the Runner's World 10-Week sub-1:50 Half plan. I used this plan when I broke 2 hours for the first time (at the Towpath Half) and it was definitely my best race to date. Never before have I felt so relaxed and strong during a race. The entire time I felt comfortable and relaxed, and I definitely think I could have easily taken a minute or two off my time.

I decided to use this plan again since it worked so well. The mileage was perfect for me, and I loved the variety in the plan. I'm going to be changing things up a bit to work better with my schedule, but for the most part I'm going to be following it closely. Here's a look at what training looks like:

Cross Training

I'm going to be adding in two days of cross training during this cycle. On my easy run days on Monday, I'm going to be adding in yoga. Since this is a race put on by Lululemon, I figured I have to do some yoga! They have a specific flow for this race that has lots of great stretches for runners, so I'll be doing that one pretty frequently.

I'm also going to be adding in biking to my cross training! I love how it's a low impact exercise that can be as high or low intensity as I want. Hopefully I won't fall and get hurt..crossing my fingers.

I also want to start doing a strength training circuit two days a week. I'm still working on what exercises I want to include, and I want to keep it around 10 minutes. I'll post what I come up with in the next few weeks!

Injury Prevention

Staying healthy is a big part of getting to the starting line, so I'm going to make a plan for recovery as well. Every day, I'm going to be foam rolling and stretching. After speed workouts and long runs, I'm going to use compression sleeves to help circulation. I'll also be using my ice pack on any areas that give me problems (I love using this one because you can just strap it on and go about your day!).

On the more splurge-y side, I also want to schedule a massage during my training! I would love to get weekly massages, but that would be way too expensive for me. Instead, around week five I'll treat myself with a sports massage to help get out some soreness and make sure everything is feeling good. Plus, that will be my reward for making it to the halfway point!

Nutrition

I decided to do another Whole30 while I'm training for this race. I did one earlier this year, and it really impacted my running in an amazing way. I was running faster and longer than ever before, and really felt in the best shape of my life.

Recently I haven't been feeling my best and was having all of the same symptoms that I did before my Whole30. I felt sluggish, had headaches every day, just wanted to take a nap, and felt tired during every run. When I was planning out my training schedule, I decided that it was also the perfect time to do round two of the Whole30!

I started on Monday, and I'm already feeling better. Luckily, I don't really experience the symptoms that most people do the first week of the program. I've felt energetic, and my runs have been great so far. I learned a lot from the first round about how much I have to eat to stay energized and not crash and burn, so I think that's really helped. I can't wait to see how this will help my training, and we'll see if I can actually make it all 10 weeks of training eating clean! I won't be doing weekly recaps on the blog, but you can keep up with me on snapchat (gretchxo) or instagram (@gretchruns)!

Goals

And now on to the scariest part of training- announcing goals! For this race, my number one goal is to make it to the starting line. After having to drop out of the Gettysburg Marathon, all I want to do is be able to actually run this race. Since it's in another country, I've already invested a lot of money (plane tickets, AirBnB room) so I have a lot of motivation to train hard!

As far as time goals, I would really love to break 1:50:00! This is going to be extremely tough for me, but it's good to have lofty goals...right? After the halfway point I'll do another check-in to see if this goal is realistic, but for now that's what I'm reaching for.

Is anyone else doing Seawheeze?What is your big, scary goal?!Has anyone else changed their diet and seen a huge improvement?
linking up with Amanda

Go Gretchen!! I love the comprehensive approach you're taking to this training, as opposed to the usual "run all the miles" strategy many runners adopt when they're chasing goals. I think your big scary goal is VERY achievable for you with the the focused plan you have an all the hard work you're going to put in! My first time breaking 1:50 was one of the most rewarding race experiences I've had.

I really don't have any big scary running goals! I used to love them, but I've been moving away from chasing time goals. Honestly, it just gets old. I'm trying to focus more on my health and fitness and enjoying running more.

Yay for half marathon training! I can't wait to see how it goes for you :) I LOVE the lululemon Seawheeze yoga routines. I do yoga once a week and nine times out of ten, it is one of those routines - the 2013 and the the 2014 are my favorites.

Sub 1:50 on my way to an eventual sub 1:45 is my big scary goal too. I don't think my next half will be until October, or maybe September if I find one I love, so I'm taking the summer as sort of a step back.

But, I've got some nutrition strides to make in the meantime. Especially figuring out how to eat during the week that will best benefit my training.

I get so crazy excited any time I find out people are running SeaWheeze for the first time - it really is my favourite race ever!That looks like a solid training plan and I think you have a great approach to your training.

YOU ARE COMING TO VANCOUVER????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!??????????????? HOW IN THE HELL DID I MISS THIS. I knew you were doing Seawheeze but I thought there were a bunch of them in different cities or something, kinda like a rock n roll. I AM GOING TO CHEER YOU ON! I can't wait!!!!

Good idea for making a recovery plan too! Often times we forget about preventing injuries until we wind up injured and think "why didn't I....." but it's so much better to be proactive rather than reactive!

You are so well prepared for this race! I love how you're including nutrition in there, I firmly believe a good training plan requires a good nutrition plan. Good luck on aiming for 1:50! I think it's good to have big scary goals as long as you don't get too caught up in them. My big half goal is sub 1:30 someday, although there's a long, long way to go to that from 1:38.

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